


The Story Of Minste

by Marumix



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I’ll add more tags as the series goes on I promise, Kingdoms, Minecraft, Pre-Split, Split-up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29419479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marumix/pseuds/Marumix
Summary: The story of the kingdom of Minste—a multi-chapter collaboration, featuring the five sectors of the sprawling kingdom. Yet, it all had to start somewhere, doesn’t it? Follow as the empire grows, alongside problems and hardships alike.—CURRENTLY IN THE STORY—The duo take shelter at a dock they missed at their arrival to the badlands.—TAKE NOTE—This is a draft, which means that there most likely will be errors and some nonsensical things. At some point, a polished version will released (second, or final draft). Please be patient with me!
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. First Impressions

The badlands almost radiated the presence of gold, furling the capitalistic minds of the pair. After all, this was the point of Marcus and Aubreu’s journey from the Marron Glaciers, to build and sell. The browns and oranges of the sprawling terrain was a sight they have not seen in hours, as the boat ride there was full of only the blues of the ocean and the purples of the night. As the morning sunshine arose from its slumber, the rays of sunlight shone upon a small nearby spring which led through a small canyon, leading to other wonders ahead.

After some more searching, cave systems were found, and as just how the badlands were rumoured to hold, many valuables were present in a large ravine of which Aubreu had to convince Marcus not to jump down several times. This was it, this was their path to riches. Yet, as Marcus looked around, he began to lose hope—as nothing of use was present, only terracotta and some cacti, and a bit of granite. Even as a trained architect it would be a long shot making anything attractive out of the materials found at first sight.

Aubreu, on the other hand, grew up south of the Badlands, where the mountainous mesa peaks hid betwixt the clouds, yet still visible from the grassy plains below. Yet, the village told them never to stray towards the “ring”, which they claimed was a dangerous place full of danger and horror, yet as they took in the surroundings, breathing in the dry air and trudging through the sandy earth, nothing seemed to be dangerous at all. Surely there was a complete absence of animal or plant life (besides those pesky cacti), yet nothing _deadly._

finally, after an hour of scouting for a good place to start doing almost anything, Marcus shook Aubreu’s shoulder. “There’s no wood here, what should we build with?”

“There is cobblestone, yes?” Aubreu countered. “And terracotta, and iron below. We have what we need.”

“But what about stairs,” Marcus bothered. “We can’t make stairs out of your fancy pottery material, no. Or weapons-“

“We have IRON and COBBLESTONE for that,” 

“and yet you have backed yourself into another corner, yes? Cobblestone simply just doesn’t fill the same role as wood, it doesn’t even share an aesthetic with wood. Aswell, to forge weapons, we too, need sticks. Why don’t we both just go to the forest south of her-“

“No.” Aubreu sternly declared, taking a puff from their long cigarette. “We will not do that, actually. I packed some wood from home to get us started, and some dirt and saplings. I’ll set up a garden to satisfy your insatiable lust for aesthetics and cohesiveness.”

Marcus snorted. “Like you could get anything growing in this weather. And you and what gardening expertise? I assume you forgot bonemeal? a response is not needed, I have it right… here…” Marcus slung off his travelling bag and searched, panicked as to not embarrass himself, yet the damage was already done.

“Why don’t you just wait and relax? I know more about the badlands than you, considering I’m the only one who’s actually seen it,” Aubreu snarled. “You know what? Just go on somewhere, get lost in a cave or something. I’m going to set up cam-

Aubreu was cut off by an unusual noise behind them. They found themselves weapons unsheathed, standing alongside eachother to face the menace, but only a streak of purple haze showed.

An enderman. 

as Aubreu’s static gaze bore into the enderman’s path, Marcus ordered for Aubreu to keep their eyes off, he couldn’t help it, as he followed the path of purple wisp until he locked eyes with the creature, it’s jaw unhinged.

“What the _hell_ are you doing?!” Marcus slashed at the mob, alternating between the dull end and the sharp end of his axe to push the enderman back and to attack. Aubreu couldn’t even respond, as memories flooded his mind and clouded his vision until there was nothing left to think, nothing left to see. Marcus darted from place to place, trying to keep up with the enderman’s teleportation, but the beast didn’t care for Marcus, it only wanted the blood of whomever gazed upon them. Marcus and the enderman both surrounded Aubreu, Marcus swinging at the enderman as it flashed to a different location around them. Marcus quickly found a water bucket in his sack, and splashed it at Aubreu’s feet.

As the enderman teleported wildly around the newly formed puddle of water in its rage, Marcus questioned Aubreu. “The _hell_ are you out here for if you can’t even fight?”

Aubreu refused to lock eyes with Marcus. “I’m sorry. I… I can fight. Enderman just aren’t my strong suit—why don’t we start building shelter?” He didn’t wait for an answer.

Aubreu’s temperorary setup was… rough to say the least. Marcus almost began to doubt the architectual skill of Aubreu’s, yet they assured constantly that “all this mess is just so we’ll have a place of shelter,” yet Marcus continued to doubt his decision of partnership as he watched them produce a constructional and visual atrocity before his eyes. Even as their finished creation stood against the orange near-dusk sky, he thought about refusing to sleep inside, as he could practically see all of the ways the shelter could fail structurally, yet he put his faith in luck and decided to sleep in Aubreu’s crude shack rather than brave the dangerous mobs that would soon spawn.

Just as Aubreu finished crafting the beds, Marcus stepped inside, silently evaluating the temporary structure. “Again, I know it’s not much, I’m sorry-“

“You took half a day to make _this?_ ” Marcus jokingly snapped back, as Aubreu placed the beds down, rolling his eyes.

“ _you_ study _architecture_ , be grateful that I’m even bending over backwards to give _you_ a place to sleep,” Aubreu defended. “Anyway, goodnight, I’m going to sleep.”

“Goodnight,” Marcus said, tucking himself into his bed, yet, as soon as their lanterns went out and Aubreu’s whistling snore began, Marcus quietly snuck out into the night, only his silken cloak and the gentle warmth of his lantern protecting him from the stinging cold of the desert-like night weather of the badlands. .


	2. Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcus sneaks to fill his map out and to find “better” materials than Aubreu, and finds a mysterious structure, as Aubreu wakes up from their sleep and goes out to mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aubreu uses they/them pronouns, as requested by the creator of the character (my friend). Marcus uses he/him pronouns. The mysterious figure uses she/her pronouns but that’s not important and is also a spoiler.

Maybe it was the cold of the desert like lands he was now surrounded in, or the loneliness of the deserted badlands, but either way, this trip to fill his map, and to secretly gather wood, was unnerving.

He checked his map to see how far he’s gone, and gladly, he wasn’t too far to the location of Aubreu, and their shelter. it’s hard to make any real distance with all of these hills, but Marcus used spare wood to make ladders to get up and down the many high plateaus of the badlands. the slicing winds brought by the nearby ocean carried on throughout the place, but Marcus didn’t mind.

He began to miss home already: realising what he’s left behind for this trip. He thought about the fall-out he had with his family over this, and began to ponder on whether or not he was in the wrong, yet he was too stubborn to realise any view other than his.

He could save the village, which has been in decline for years, with this project! It didn’t matter to him whether or not this land was off limits? If it was that serious then they would’ve told him why. His grandmother seemed so angry when he told her the plan, tears streaming down her face as she screamed of how he could bring an end to the taiga altogether, but why? 

the tears didn’t stop untill he departed for the badlands.

Are the tears still going?

His mind stuck to the topic during his venture, as he slowly but surely filled his map, avoiding the midnight mobs as he made his way, yet as he tumbled through the sandy terracotta filled lands, he noticed an odd glowing structure in the distance. Hints of blurred orange and shiny dark purple could be made out from the dark orange of the night plateau he stood on. As he made his way to it, he realised the orange happened to be lava, and the purple was a few obsidian blocks arranged in the shape of a rectangle… but not normal obsidian. It’s cracks were lined with dark purple, and it softly glowed.

He took out his journal and took note of the location, and recorded its coordinates with his map. was this what his village warned him about—was this the “horror” of the badlands? It couldn’t be, the only thing dangerous about this is the lava nearby, yet he couldn’t help to wonder what this structure could have been. It was large, and was made of some sort of black, brick structure with some peculiar designs, and some gold at the top? The structure had some iron bars sprinkled throughout, making it even more confusing. As he eyed it, he searched through the chest nearby and found some normal obsidian and some golden tools. Oh, how would Aubreu be mad that he left if he presented them with this! He threw the tools into his sack and made his way.

As he looked down at his map for the last time, he realised that it was now finished. He was filled with the euphoria of accomplishment and smiled to himself, only his own joy beside himself in the cold, lonely desert of the badlands.

* * *

Aubreu woke up from his sleep seemingly soon after Marcus dissapeared. He cursed to himself as he picked up the note left on his bed, which read:

_Just in case you wake up in the middle of the night, sorry for leaving. I’m scouting to fill out our maps. thank me later, I’ll show you if I find anything good. see you tomorrow._

_best,  
Marcus A._

They wanted to punch Marcus in the face, several times. Doesn’t he have any common sense? What if he gets cornered and he can’t call out for help? or what if Aubreu gets cornered themself? These thoughts raced as they cursed under their breath and tore the message to bits. What else is there to do now, since Marcus has abandoned them?  
their decision was to go mining, or do something to pass the time at least. Mining was one of the things he was surprisingly good at, so he slid on their leather armour and grabbed their sack full of torches, and stone tools, to get ready for his trip.

The first thing they noticed in the mesa was that there is an abundance of holes in the ground. They’re everywhere, and they’re not just little mini caverns either. They lead deep underground and form some sort of interconnected system, so he placed torches behind them as they made their way through the caverns as to not get lost. 

the second thing they noticed is that the badlands, just as Marcus and Aubreu both thought, is full of ore. In the first fifteen minutes Aubreu was in posession of lots of iron and coal, some red stone, and even a little gold, which was surprising. they needed to build a furnace once they got home too, so they grabbed some more cobblestone for later. He would use the last of their wood to make a crafting table, and then would build an orchard the next day to supply them with wood and saplings.

he felt at peace in the mines, the gentle echo of the underground labyrinth and the faint sound of underground water trickling throughout the system was calming. nobody from their village shared this love of the underground, as most did as normal forest villagers did and became lumberjacks and carpenters or whatever, but that never interested them. As a child they would venture to the south rock hills and just explore the bounty of caves there, yet the cobblestone walls of the Wellworthine kingdom always stood in his way. They were scared to travel too far, in the cave system in the woods, not because of the fear of being lost, rather what if they surfaced inside the kingdom? The southwest forest were never on the best of terms with Wellworthine, what if they became the first death in a new war that they knew the southwest forest would lose?

Yet now, nobody could stop them. The village, including their best friend halfheartedly encouraged the badlands endeavour, as it was their only choice at that point. The village wasn’t doing very well considering their relationship with Wellworthine and the debt they owed to the kingdom in the hills, so maybe if they made the badlands thrive like it did in the old stories once more, they could give some of the money to his village, and preserve the legacy of the Balourans for a little more?

They chewed on this for a little longer until they were satisfied with what they collected, yet as they turned around, a dark figure stood, blocking their only exit from the mine. 

“What are you doing here in the badlands?” The figure said, in a, frankly terrible, scary voice, yet Aubreu’s fight or flight response already triggered, their sword unsheathed. Whoever this figure was, wouldn’t take them down without a fight.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi yes thank you for reading my shitty minecraft lore. You may add a comment if you’d like but PLEASE tell me if it’s formatted weird or there’s any spelling mistake of any kind PLEASE (because I have never proofread in my life and I refuse to start now). anyway you’re welcome to give constructive feedback as well! I’m trying to keep this piece as close to minecraft canon as possible so you’re welcome to nit pick about inconsistencies as well! :)


	3. A new home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This new mysterious figure, who happens to just be a local, invites the duo to take shelter at a dock next to their cat shelter. They soon grow fond of the place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was edited to space out the story, so it may not be as you remember.

Despite their own adventures, they both, Marcus and Aubreu, made it home safely. As the morning sun crept across the sky, Aubreu sat up from his bed and decided to clear off the area nearby.

The person they met last night was just a person who lived nearby, on the outskirts of the badlands near the water. The group entered the badlands through the higher eastern side, so they didn’t see the building during the boat ride there, or during Marcus’s late night scouting trip. There was a pier nearby as well, that Aubreu took the coordinates of to explore the next day. Maybe they could take shelter there? It certainly looked a lot less cramped. The figure, who’s name was actually Ruby, ran a shelter for homeless cats (and some dogs) and only stopped by in the cave because her kittens, Tiny and Keewee, “told” her there was someone nearby. They didn’t think that was all the truth though, she probably just heard the clanking of their pickaxe.

They dug up dry, dead plants from the ground. Honestly, they also wanted to get away from Marcus, after that stunt they pulled last night. What was he thinking? They didn’t know, and they didn’t want to argue about it any more than they did the night before. Sure, Aubreu made it seem like their major worry was the dangers of leaving them alone, but really, they were almost offended by the fact that he didn’t wake Aubreu up to join him. but they’ve calmed down now, but not enough to talk with him.

They built a two tree garden a little ways from the shelter, water, dirt, and all. To themself, they seemed to have made remarkable progress, so he took out his own journal to jot down his work. he smiled to himself, until he heard the front door open, and the smile washed away.

Marcus stood in the door way, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. “I thought we said to tell each other when we left the house last night?” He said with a smirk.

Aubreu rolled his eyes, his back facing to Aubreu as they pretended to tend to his garden. “I’m literally five feet away from the house.”

“So you got mad at me for nothing?” he leaned against the side of the doorframe.

Aubreu glanced in his direction, but quickly looked back. “Get back inside and get dressed or something if you’re going outside, you don’t have any clothes on,” they said, as if he didn’t know that already. Marcus laughed to himself, and hid back away inside.

“Is he always like that?” A familiar voice rang out from the top of the nearby plateau. Ruby precariously jumped down the side of the landmass, reaching Aubreu, who was tugging at their unfinished arboretum dirt.

“I’ve only met him for a day…” he glanced at the house. “But I would think so.”

“met him for a day? I thought you were husbands or something. Or we’ll, If you guys met and got married in a day, I don’t judge,” Ruby joked.

“No, no, we’re… business partners, actually.” Aubreu stood up and brushed their hands on their pants. “we’re going to make the badlands habitable again, considering there’s not much housing at the moment.” 

“Are you sure about that? I think I should show you something,” Ruby offered. “Meet me at the pier at sundown, and I’ll show you.”

“That… that sounds very suspicious, but alright.” Marcus soon after opened the door, and stepped outside. He shielded the top of his eyes to see the two better. “Hey Aubreu, who’s that?”

“Oh, you must be Marcus! We were just talking about you,” Ruby lied, but only a little. 

“Yeah, _sure,_ ” Marcus said in jest. He shook Ruby’s hand. “Nice to meet you, are you a traveller?”

“I actually live here,” she claimed, much to the disbelief of Marcus.

“She lives on the more southern edge near this pier that we didn’t see on our maps,” Aubreu finished, before Marcus could ask how they missed it (mostly because they didn’t know either.)

“There’s some housing on there too, if you’d rather come over there. There’s some leftover supplies from the abandoned stores around there.”

Marcus grinned with joy. “Oh, you would let us? Thank you! Should we go check the area out sometime this afternoon?”

“That’s actually great! I needed to show you both something anyway.” Ruby turned around to start back up the wall of the plateau she came from. “I need to go feed my cats, so I’ll see you both later.”

Marcus and Aubreu both waved at Ruby as she quickly climbed up the plateau, and disappeared beyond the top of the Mesa.

“Huh, I didn’t know anyone lived here still,” Marcus admitted. “Do you know where her house is?”

“it’s on the outskirts of the mesa, near the water,” Aubreu described. “it’s technically not connected to the badlands, so it still rains there.”

“A great trade off for this cramped mess you made right here.” He gestured to the shelter they made the day before.

“Stop making fun of my house!” Aubreu raged. “it’s a _shelter,_ what do you . 

“I _want_ to be able to get out of bed without falling over _you_ ,” Marcus pestered jokingly.

“I’m ending this conversation. Pack up your stuff sometime today, I’m going to harvest the garden with the bonemeal I made with your gatherings, and then I can “move” the garden closer to the dock.”

Marcus patted his inventory bag. “alright! I’ll leave you to your things. I’ll check on the furnace.”

“Alright.”  
  


As the hours went by, and their altercations upon the land were removed, it soon became time to start heading to the dock. Aubreu shared the coordinates they recorded the day before, and they set out for the place. It was south of their location, it was a hard trek, considering the high Mesa cliffs obstructing the path through, but they progressed steadily, with the goal of reaching it before sundown, yet, just as the top of the sun dipped below the horizon, the wooden pier was in sight, ruby sitting off the ledge impatiently. 

Aubreu reached her first. “So sorry, it was kind of hard getting through the hills and valleys of this place.”

Ruby sighed impatiently. “I should’ve got up and left, but then I wouldn’t be able to give a tour, wouldn’t I?” Let’s get started!” 

She started towards the first building on the left. “This is the fish shop. Here you can get poles, and fish, and that’s really it.” She walked in the place, and squeezed in between all of the clutter. “The owner was a bit of a hoarder, so it might be hard getting through… but come over here, look at this!” As Marcus and Aubreu both manoeuvred around the place full of barrels and junk, they noticed some sort of contraption with a button, built into a wall with a glass window that seemed to separate the employee area from the customer area. “This is the state of the art trading system! Each person plops their trading materials in, and boom! With this button it shoots out the other side, ready to be picked up by customer and trader. It still works after all these years… every one of the owners of these shops passed, after all,” she said with a hint of sadness. “But don’t worry about that! Let’s check out the next shop!”

Ruby excitedly ran over to the shop parallel to the fishing shop, on the other side of the dock. “Now, this is the mineral shop! The owner is still alive, actually, but don’t think he would ever stop here!” Ruby snickered to herself. “Long ago he took all of his diamonds, gold, emeralds, red stone, anything that could be put to good use, and ran off. I heard he’s in Wellworthine somewhere, I don’t know. So don’t expect anything valuable here, besides that blast furnace.” She pointed to a wall much similar to the fishing shop, that divided the customer’s side from the employee’s side. Through the glass was a few blast furnaces and one regular furnace. “and then there’s another that I  _ know  _ you’ll love!”

Ruby went on and on throughout the night, but the dock wasn’t too big, so it didn’t last long, but she seemed very excited to show the wonders of this dock. It must be very important to her, especially since she’s possibly the only one left there (even though she doesn’t live there, rather in the cat shelter nearby). Marcus was very interested about the design of the buildings, and he asked plenty of questions—most of which Ruby didn’t have the answer to. Aubreu was only glad that the two were happy about something. Yet, once Ruby finished, Aubreu voiced their affection towards a half shop/half home building to the side of the mineral shop. Marcus seemed to be very fond of that building as well, so they decided to take shelter there. They thanked Ruby and watched as she walked off in the direction of the cat shelter, probably about to get ready to sleep. 

Aubreu proposed that one of them take over the shop side, and one of them take over the home side, but Marcus didn’t like their plan, and would rather just put all of their chests and crafting items on the shop side… yet Aubreu didn’t understand why he wanted to sleep in the same room as them. Yer, it was hard to say that each other’s presence wasn’t comforting.

They re-set up their crafting supplies and chests where Marcus wanted them to be, and lightly decorated the place with some paintings, until they were satisfied. Albeit it being quite small… this was home, and they hoped it would be for a long time. 

As they both prepared for bed, Marcus spoke up. “So, should we start designing tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I’ll leave you up to the designs and whatnot. I trust your architectural knowledge.”

Marcus held his hand over his heart.” Wow, I can’t believe it. That means a lot.”

“Don’t take it too personally. Anyway, go to bed. That’s what I’m doing,” they said, as they began to slowly drift off to sleep.

“I am… anyway, goodnight.”

he didn’t get a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ehhh not much to say except again: a major key moment in the story was replaced with another to space out the story. Pls give feedback ok thx bye


End file.
